Vaysh

To be fair, kimchi can be a bit... brutal on your tastebuds the first time you try it. I'm not much of a fan myself tbh, despite living in the land of surströmming. I can deal with fermented and I can deal with chili. The combination, however, I find a little daunting.

He will offer them a house near the TTH and if they don't accept, then screw'em. Boob's "generosity" has nothing to do with wanting to help his kids out, it's all about keeping them and their spouses under his thumb. I do wonder how self-aware JB is about his control issues. He's never come across as particularly intelligent to me but he does seem to have a knack for manipulating people. Is he doing it in a calculated way, planning out ways to control his kids, or is he all instinct and self-delusion?

This part reminds me of the job applications I wrote as a teenager, trying to pad my resume with that summer I picked strawberries for a month and all those times I babysat (nannying! nevermind I got payed in chips and movie tickets!), worked at an archaeology dig as part of a school assignment and, of course, those school "work experience" thingies where I spent two weeks each semester in junior high packing groceries/cleaning hotel rooms/re-arranging books in an old people's home. The reasoning that once Izzy wakes up, they both become fully occupied and have to put less important things like studying and working on hold is just ridic. There are two of them and there's one baby. One could study or work while the other looks after Izzy, and even the "babysitter" could get stuff done as long as they baby proof their house properly. Make a safe space for Izzy, give him some toys and let him amuse himself for a while and get shit done. Most people manage to do this every single day without making it sound like a big deal.

In one of the Jill courting episodes she mentioned (off-script, not in a talking head) something about being the first to expand the "tribe" of Duggar, à la the twelve tribes of Israel. I was quite amazed it got past the editors; perhaps they thought she was being facetious or something but knowing what I know about their particular brand of fundie, I took her to be quite serious. Like this was a thing they had actually discussed. It does sound like something that Jim Boob would be all over; didn't he say in one early episode that one of the reasons he bought so much land to go with the TTH was that there would be plenty of room to build more houses for his kids to live in? I honestly believe that Boob harbours a fantasy of being some kind of Old Testament-type of Patriarch where he will be the father of dragons 19 tribes that will rule the world, and that the obsessive breeding is part of his plan to make this fantasy come true. Pity that his control issues and ego have assured that none of his offspring will have the agency, skills or motivation to rule anything.

His admittance that he never interacted much with the Duggars, just observed them, makes the whole thing seem quite legit. If it was some guy trolling for attention I think there would've been far more stories about him having conversations with them or being best buds. He sounds pretty honest, poor guy (and that masturbation story had me in stitches). The whole thing made me feel quite sorry for Anna; Boob and Michelle seem to have no respect or compassion for her at all. Her sister in-laws apparently treat her like Cinderella, letting her do all the dirty work in the house and now her parents-in-law basically ignore her existence in public. Yay for that Christian love and compassion! And Josh seems to have lost his smartphone privileges again; according to this guy he's got his very own flip-phone of shame now. Since he was caught on camera with a smartphone a few months ago, I can't help but wonder if he abused it and got caught so daddy took the smartphone away. This family is so dysfunctional.

I'm crossing my fingers it's actually a FU Boob!!!! moment but y'alls interpretation is so depressingly more likely.

I'll take your word for it. Our different interpretations is probably due to cultural differences because if someone over here was espousing the views of Jeremy and his dad they would genuinely be considered religious extremist nutjobs. Like, on the absolute fringe. The Duggars now, they are simply out of orbit, which is probably why I'm so fascinated by them in a deeply horrified sort of way.

I sincerely doubt the kidults living at home gets a paycheck. They probably get an allowance for minor stuff like thrift store shopping, gas and Starbucks, but if they're getting anything like a living wage, despite TLC and working for daddy, I'll eat my shoes. Money means freedom and since Boob is all about control, there is no way he'd do anything that would lessen his control over his kids by giving them the opportunity to save up cash for a future life independent of him.

I thought Jeremy was raised fundy as well? By a convert no less. Then went on to live a more worldy life for a few years but repented and then returned as the prodigal son after his goalie career failed? His dad has some pretty extreme views about female subservience so even though his parents aren't Gothard-level crazy I don't think they're just mainstream religious either; those anti-masturbation ideas had to come from somewhere. The women of the family are allowed to wear pants, are not expected to breed uncontrollably and are allowed to have a life outside of the home, so they seem less extreme than Bin's parents but more so than Derick's but I'm not sure Jeremy's fundy-ism is a choice as much as a return to his childhood roots.

He's allowed near books that are not religious! I'm actually doing a little happy dance in my chair right now.

To be fair to Josiah he possessed quite a bright spark until his parents sent him to Jesus Boot Camp for the better part of a year. Since those places seem to be designed to break spirits I can't really fault the poor boy for his lack of spark these days. They broke him.

I think I must have been a bit unclear in my wording. I wasn't saying she should go back to her pre-pregnancy body or weight, because unless you're a Hollywood star with a personal trainer and a lot of time on your hands that's very difficult and not even remotely necessary. Expecting women to bounce back from pregnancy as if nothing has happened to their bodies is absurd. What I am saying is that, judging by how her body appears at the moment, she is lacking muscle tone all over (you can see it in her arms, they're skinny but there is hardly any muscle), and that she would benefit from gaining said muscle tone around her core because that would make future pregnancies easier and put less strain on her body. Putting in a couple of hours at the gym every week could save her a lot of grief down the line.

Love the shade Jinger was throwing at Jill. Oh, Jill was always the Mild Child, who's never broken anything, did everything perfect, never scuffed her shoes... There is nooo resentment there at all. Nope. None. Now I can't help but wonder if there isn't a bit of schadenfreude among the older sisters about Jill having to deal with scruffy looking Derrick and her less than optimal living conditions in Danger America. It was nice that Jana got to show a bit of personality in this clip; while her design preferences look pretty hideous to me (Scandinavian here; I prefer plain and light, not dark and ...whatever that was) it seemed like she had a good idea of what she was looking for. A Duggar showing an interest and individual preference for anything is a plus in my book.

Yes, they both said it with varying degrees of conviction. I especially recall that cringe-worthy announcement of Jill's where she declared that she'd fallen in love with someone she'd never even met.

I'm honestly not trying to body shame her, but Jill looks like she could really benefit from working on her core. She's got that skinny fat look now that indicates lack of muscle and if she's planning on having several more babies that's going to do a number on her back, hips and pelvis unless she gets some tone around her core area.

Maybe he's a "lay" pilot. If fundies think it's perfectly fine and safe to have unlicensed lay midwives deliver their babies, perhaps paying for a plane ride with an non-commercial pilot isn't such a big deal to them. Since they don't even like to report serious crimes like child molestation, who would even file a complaint about it? Does anyone know what JD would have to do in order to become a commercial pilot? I'm assuming he'd have to pass some sort of test(s), but would there be extra lessons, coursework etc? Actual school? It seems a bit strange that he would put so much time and effort into becoming a pilot and then just... stop moving forward with it. Did Boob lay it on JD's heart that all those flight hours would best be put to use by just flying his family around for the rest of his life, or are there some other big hurdles to overcome if he wants to be a pilot for a living? ETA: Sorry Churchhoney, I posted before I saw yours. So, extra flight time in a multi-engine craft is a requirement. Yeah, Boob isn't going to shell out for that. Which is infuriating in and of itself because JD's been a show pony for most of his adult life; he should have earned enough TLC money by now to pay for flight hours and renting a plane on his own. But I doubt he's seen a penny of it unless it's gone through Daddy's hands first.

Hell, if you want to be lazy just boil the rice in lots of water and drain it when cooked. I did this today and it actually came out better than when I measure the rice/water ratio. Just rinse the rice beforehand and it's all good.

Did she just compare her dad to God?

@doodlebug The fuck? I just can not wrap my head around this kind of mindset. If they knew their child's death was caused by the incompetence of this woman, why on earth would they not do everything in their power to shut her down? If not for their own sake, then for other parents and their babies. Ugh. I want to say fuck religion but I have a strong suspicion it's also about close-knit communities and not wanting to rock the boat. Though one would think your child's death would be a damn good reason to not just rock it but over-turn it completely. But hey, Jesus, right? The more I read about fundies and their lackadaisical attitude to birth, born babies, and children in general, the more I realise that their anti-choice agenda is far more about controlling and subjugating women than it is about protecting those precious unborn babies.

But wouldn't malpractice be considered a criminal offence if the baby or mother died or were injured due to the incompetence of the "midwife"? I 'm not sure what the terms are in English (wikipedia tells me involuntary manslaughter) but we've got two crimes here, which I will rather clumsily translate into "causing another person's death" and "causing another person to be injured" that covers things like carelessness in traffic, causing accidents, or just about anything that involves causing the death or injury of someone by being a thoughtless bloody idiot. There aren't any lay "midwives" in Sweden (or much suing for that matter) so I don't know if this sort of thing would be covered under those laws tbh but it seems incredibly strange that someone could repeatedly kill or injure babies due to self-imposed incompetence and not be arrested for it.

Anna looks disturbingly like Michelle in that picture, I think it's the rictus grin and the dead eyes. As for bruises, she does look a bit banged up, but since it's an official photo posted on the Duggar FB page... they're stupid but I doubt they are THAT stupid.

Aside from not appearing on any photos, do we know Derrick isn't on the trip? Is there something I've missed, where he appeared elsewhere? Letting your kid go off on a plane trip without either parent sounds like a strange thing to do but then again, it's the Duggars.

Venessa's malpractices aside, Jill being away from Izzy and Derrick is not a bad thing at all IMO. Israel is well over a year old and most children would be at daycare at this point because their parents go to work. Izzy still has daddy with him on this trip, plus nanny Jana. I do wish Jill had a different "job" where she wouldn't endanger other women's lives, but I do applaud her for leaving the fold and acting like an independent person, even just for a little bit.

Really? Those floppy ears look kinda goaty to me. But you're probably right. The Duggs do love to paint themselves as sacrificial lambs; victims of the evil secular world that they in no way court and badger for attention and money.

A very sad goat? Though goats aren't exactly known to be meek so I don't get it.